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Egypt to open Rafah crossing with Gaza Sunday

Ola Attalah Saturday, March 8, 2014

Egyptian authorities will open the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip on Sunday for stranded Palestinians and pilgrims to cross, the Hamas Interior Ministry said.

GAZA CITY – Egyptian authorities will open the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip on Sunday for stranded Palestinians and pilgrims to cross, the Hamas Interior Ministry said.

"Egyptian authorities will open the crossing for two days to allow pilgrims and stranded Palestinians to cross," Maher Abu Sabha, the director of Gaza`s crossing and border authority, told Anadolu Agency on Saturday.

He, however, said that he has no information when the terminal will be opened for patients and students.

Abu Sabha went on to appeal to Egyptian authorities to keep the terminal open

Egyptian authorities have tightened their control over the border with the Hamas-run Gaza Strip since last July`s ouster of elected president Mohamed Morsi by the Egyptian army.

In recent weeks, Egypt has repeatedly closed the Rafah crossing, which – due to an ongoing, eight-year Israeli siege – represents Gaza`s only window to the outside world.

The Egyptian army has also launched a campaign aimed at destroying the network of tunnels linking Gaza to Egypt`s Sinai Peninsula, which in recent years had been used to bring vital commodities into the besieged coastal enclave, home to nearly 2 million Palestinians.

Hamas, an ideological offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, the group which propelled Morsi to power in the 2012 elections, has controlled the Gaza Strip, since 2007.